Shane Withington has already been responsible for breaking our hearts on the screen in A Country Practice.

Now, he has us all on the edge of our seats once more – with a dramatic development on Home and Away leaving his character John Palmer a little worse for wear.

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“It’s an amazing journey that John goes on right now,” Withington said.

“Like all stroke victims go through, he loses his power, he loses his manhood and control over his life.

“That, of course, reflects really badly on the marriage, because he’s got a loving wife who wants to look after him but he just feels like he is a burden.

“That happens with stroke victims.

“I’ve got to give the writers a big tick here because they really did it well. They looked deeply into what happens when a person has a stroke.

“To be honest, it was the hardest thing I have had to play. Our medical advisor told me the 14 things that happen when you have a stroke – and to put them into that few seconds of collapsing was really difficult.

“It got harder from there – it was very difficult to do the speech impediment and the lack of movement.

“It’s very important that we acknowledge what a stroke is and how we respond to a stroke, and how to react to people who have had a stroke.

“One of our cameramen was a stroke survivor, and to have him nearby was an enormous help because he’d gone through it and came out of it very well.

“And relationship-wise, it is a big change.”

The return to set

Home and Away recently went back into production after an extended break due to COVID-19.

“We’re currently shooting two studios – we’ve got our normal studio and then a studio next door with all our sets up in it, different crews and different actors,” Withington said.

“We’re passing each other in corridors and shooting out of order a lot, which really does your head in as an actor.

“One actor shot a goodbye scene with another actor before he shot hello scene. That’s when we rely on our wonderful directors and continuity people.

“And you know what actors are like – we’re very touchy-feely people. But we’ve got a man there with a stick telling us to stop.”